The Dogs of Toronto Animal Services South

Because I've been exposed to a lot of puppies during my time volunteering at Toronto Animal Services South, I've learned to harden my heart to their charms by forcing myself to think about doing my taxes whenever there's a pup in the vicinity.

Penny comes along, though, and no amount of visualizing mountains of taxes can keep her smush-faced, melancholy, squishable sweetness at bay. I was on the verge of doing what I haven't done since seeing Stella for the first time, which was to take a dog home on first meeting.

Somehow, I resisted (my inner fortitude is powerful due to the cereal I eat), knowing that Penny is going to have zero problems getting a home.

By the way, Penny's brother Magoo is still at the shelter and waiting for a home. What?

She's in foster care right now due to some eye surgery but will be back at TAS South and ready for adoption in a few days.

5 Comments to “Penny - Sharpei Pug Puppy”

I wanna snuggle Fred. Just because he's so damn loveable himself. Watch out Fred cuz there's a whole bunch of us old ladies who would love to take you home and I'm bettin money a whole bunch of younger women too!!

Sorry, Fred, if you still have her then I'll take her!! She's perfect!! :) I've a boy shar pug neutered :) just looking to find him a buddy to play with@ home! I promise I'll take excellent care of her like I do now with Bauer! :)

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------